Hair dryer

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a hair dryer. The hair dryer includes: a body provided in a cylindrical shape having an annular sectional surface, configured to form an air flow path, and provided with one or more air inlets and an air outlet; a blower fan provided between the air inlets and the air outlet, and configured to be rotated to thus introduce external air into the body and blow the external air; and a heating coil provided between the blower fan and the air outlet, and configured to heat the external air; wherein air outside the air flow path is introduced into the air flow path and blown to the user along with the air being blown via the air outlet by means of a difference in air pressure between the inside region of the air flow path and a region outside the air flow path.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2017-0134389, filed on Oct. 17, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a hair dryer.

2. Description of the Related Art

The hairstyle that can change the appearance of a person can deform the shape of the hair made of protein by means of hot air or heat via a hair dryer or curling iron, thereby enabling styling that is suitable for a user's personal preference.

A conventional hair dryer adopts a method of generating high-temperature hot air by simply heating incoming external air by means of a heating coil contained in an air flow path when the external air is introduced into the air flow path and blown via a blower fan.

However, the conventional hair drying method is designed to draw air in a surrounding space and discharge the drawn air at high speed through a small outlet due to the structure of the hair dryer. Accordingly, problems arise in that dust in the air is gathered by the suction force of the blower fan and discharged to the head, face, etc. of a user and in that dust, hair, etc. introduced into the air flow path are burned by the heating coil and blown in the form of dust.

Generally, a typical 200 W hair dryer discharges air of 2 cubic meters per minute. There is possibility that foreign materials, such as dust and hair, may be introduced into the heating coil and discharged in the form of fine contaminants, such as ashes, and thus the fine pollutants may affect the hygiene of the hair or the hygiene of the scalp or face.

Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2014-0129324 (published on Nov. 6, 2014 and filed by Dyson Technology Limited) discloses a hand held appliance in which a blower fan is provided in a grip, external air is introduced via the grip and supplied into an annular body, and the external air rotating along the inside of the annular body is blown through an inner circumferential surface, so that the air blowing efficiency of the hair dryer is maximized by drawing a larger amount of external air by means of a difference in air pressure.

As described above, the problem of fine pollutants can be partially solved by performing a hair drying function through the drawing of external air, and the hair drying function can be improved by considerably increasing the air blowing amount of the hair dryer by means of a difference in air pressure. However, air introduced via the grip must be widely circulated inside the annular body, and thus the rotational driving force of the hair dryer must be further increased accordingly because an air flow path is bent and a circulation distance increases.

Accordingly, in order to secure the rotational driving force of the blowing fan, the power consumption of the hair dryer becomes excessively high, and also noise and vibration problems may occur due to the blowing fan rotating at high speed.

Furthermore, the inlet of air to be blown is provided in the grip, and thus a problem arises in that when the hair dryer is used, the inflow path of external air is rarely maintained without interference due to a user's gripping operation.

SUMMARY

The present invention has been conceived to overcome the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide hair dryer technology that can introduce and blow external air by means of a difference in air pressure and that can also solve noise and vibration problems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide technology that enables the same hair drying effect to be achieved with a smaller amount of power.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide hair drying technology that enables the inflow path of external air to be maintained without interference.

Objects of the present invention are not limited to the above-described objects, but other objects that have not been described above will be clearly understood by those having ordinary knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains from the following description.

In order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a hair dryer including: a body provided in a cylindrical shape having an annular sectional surface in the lengthwise direction thereof, configured to form an air flow path through which air is supplied to a user, and provided with one or more air inlets that are formed on the outer circumferential surface thereof and function to introduce external air and an air outlet that is formed on the inner circumferential surface thereof and functions to discharge internal air along the air flow path in an air blowing direction; a blower fan provided between the air inlets and the air outlet, and configured to be rotated to thus introduce external air into the body via the air inlets and blow the external air via the air outlet; and a heating coil provided between the blower fan and the air outlet, and configured to heat the external air being blown via the air outlet; wherein air outside the air flow path is introduced into the air flow path and blown to the user along with the air being blown via the air outlet by means of a difference in air pressure between the inside region of the air flow path and a region outside the air flow path that is generated by the flow speed of the air being blown via the air outlet.

The heating coil may be installed to be helically wound around the air flow path along the cylindrical shape.

The heating coil may be attached to the internal surface of the body in the form of a planar heating element, and may radiate heat.

The body may be provided in a structure which extends along the air flow path and the radius of an end of which decreases gradually, and the air outlet may be formed on the inner circumferential surface of the end of the body.

The air outlet may be formed in an integrated or segmented structure along the annular sectional surface of the body.

The air outlet may be provided in a helical structure along the air flow path when it is formed in the segmented structure on the inner circumferential surface of the body.

The blower fan may be driven with a voltage of 12 V, and may include a plurality of blower fans provided in the lengthwise direction of the body.

The hair dryer may further include a grip configured to contain a rechargeable battery that supplies power to the blower fan and the heating coil, and to be coupled to one side of the body in the lengthwise direction of the body to thus enable the user to hold the body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hair dryer having a plurality of blower fans according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the hair dryer having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hair dryer 100 having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the hair dryer having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention is used;

FIG. 5 is a view showing a configuration for heating air to be blown by using a heat sink structure according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a hair dryer having a segmented air outlet according to yet another embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which a segmented air outlet is helically formed according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but descriptions of well-known technical parts will be omitted or abridged for brevity of description.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a hair dryer 100 having a plurality of blower fans according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of the hair dryer 100 having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the hair dryer 100 having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, in order to blow hot air to the hair of a user, the hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of blower fans 120 provided along the cylinder of a body 110, and functions to introduce external air in a direction traversing the air flow path BR of the dryer and to blow the external air into the air flow path BR. Accordingly, the hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment supplies external air into the air flow path BR over the shortest distance, and also draws air around the air flow path BR by means of a difference in air pressure attributable to a change in flow speed around the air flow path BR and then blows the air to a user. The hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment includes the body 110, the blower fans 120, a heating coil 130, and a grip 140.

The body 110 is provided in a circular shape having an annular sectional surface, i.e., a hollow form, and extends in the lengthwise direction thereof. The hollow portion of the sectional surface of the body 110 forms the air flow path BR configured to blow hot air to a user, and the cylinder of the body 110 is provided to have a hollow annular sectional surface.

Meanwhile, a plurality of air inlets 111 is formed at predetermined intervals in a plurality of rows along the annular cylinder on the outer circumferential surface of the body 110, and receives external air. An air outlet 112 is formed along the inner circumferential surface of the body 110 at an end of the air flow path BR, i.e., an end of the body 110 in the lengthwise direction of the body 110, in an integrated form, and discharges external air introduced into the body 110.

In this case, the air outlet 112 may be formed on the widthwise surface of the body 100 at the end of the body 110 in the lengthwise direction of the body 110, or may be formed on the inner circumferential surface at the end of the body 110 in the lengthwise direction of the body 110. It is preferred that the discharge structure of the air outlet 112 is bent in the direction of the air flow path BR so that air inside the body 110 can be discharged in a blowing direction within the air flow path BR.

Although the air inlets 111 and the air outlet 112 are illustrated and described as being each formed in a rectangular structure having rounded corners in the present embodiment, the shape and structure of the air inlets 111 and the air outlet 112 are not limited thereto. It will be apparent that the air inlets 111 and the air outlet 112 may be each formed in a circular, elliptical, or polygonal shape.

The blower fans 120 are disposed at locations inside the annular cylinder of the body 110 that correspond to the air inlets 111. The blower fans 120 are rotated by a voltage of 12 V, and thus provide driving force that is used to draw external air via the air inlets 111 and to blow the external air along the air flow path BR via the air outlet 112.

In this case, the rotating shafts 121 of the blower fans 120 are formed in directions traversing the lengthwise direction of the inside of the body 110, i.e., directions traversing the air flow path BR, and are then rotated. Rotating blades 122 are radially formed around the rotating shafts 121 and provided in shapes inclined or bent in rotating directions so that introduced external air can be accommodated and rotated between the rotating blades 122.

In this case, the length of the rotating shafts 121 may be varied according to the curvature of the sectional surface of the body 110 by taking into account the structure of the body 110 having an annular sectional surface. It is preferred that the inclined or bent angle of the rotating blades 122 is set by taking into account the thickness of the cylinder of the body 110 having an annular sectional surface.

The heating coil 130 is provided to heat external air introduced into the body 110. The heating coil 130 is disposed between the blower fans 120 and the air outlet 112 inside the body 110 in directions traversing the air flow path of internal air to the outside, and is provided to be helically wound around the air flow path BR. In this case, net-type safety meshes are formed in the air inlets 111 and the air outlet 112, and function as blocking meshes configured to block the inflow of external foreign materials and to secure the safety of a user.

The grip 140 is installed on one side of the body 110 in a direction traversing the lengthwise direction of the body 110, and enables a user to hold the body 110 of the hair dryer. Power supply terminals configured to supply power to the blower fans 120 and the heating coil 130 may be provided in the grip 140. Furthermore, a battery 141 may be provided inside the grip 140, and may enable the hair dryer 100 to be used in a wireless manner by using charged power.

Furthermore, it will be apparent that a manipulation unit (not shown) configured to control the air blowing strength, air blowing temperature, etc. of the hair dryer 100 is installed in the body 110 or grip 140.

FIG. 4 is a view showing a state in which the hair dryer 100 having a plurality of blower fans according to the embodiment of the present invention is used.

The air blowing principle of the hair dryer 100 configured as described above is now described with reference to FIG. 4. Unlike the conventional hair dryer configured such that the inflow path of external air is formed in the grip, the hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment invention is configured such that the inflow path of external air is formed along the outer circumferential surface of the cylinder of the body 110 having an annular sectional surface. Accordingly, when the hair dryer 100 is used in the state in which a user holds the hair dryer 100, the inflow path of external air can be completely secured. Furthermore, the blower fans 120 are installed inside the cylinder of the body 110 having an annular sectional surface, and thus the same external air blowing effect can be achieved using even lower driving force.

More specifically, the blower fans 120 are disposed along the inside of the cylinder of the body 110 in a plurality of rows in the lengthwise direction of the body 110 and directions traversing the lengthwise direction, so that the hair dryer 100 according to the present embodiment can maximally increase the pressure of the flow path of external air inside the cylinder of the body 110 and the distances between the blower fans 120 and the air outlet 112 can be formed to be shortest, thereby reducing the loss of blowing pressure.

Furthermore, the end of the air flow path BR of the body 110 is provided in a structure the radius of which decreases gradually along the air flow path BR. The flow direction of the air outlet 112 is also formed within the air flow path BR, and is bent to be formed within the air flow path BR, thereby enabling external air to be blown along the air flow path BR.

This reduces the pressure in the air flow path BR, and thus air present around the air flow path BR can be introduced into the air flow path BR by means of a difference in pressure between external air being blown and the air present around the air flow path BR and blown to a user along with the external air being blown by the blower fans 120.

According to the above-described technical principle, a larger amount of air can be blown to a user by using a low driving force of 12 V, and the hair dryer according to the present invention can solve noise and vibration problems, unlike the conventional hair dryer that requires higher driving force in order to provide the same amount of air.

Furthermore, the heating coil 130 is provided in a structure in which the heating coil 130 is disposed to be helically wound around the air flow path BR inside the body 110 in the lengthwise direction of the body 110, and external air supplied by the blower fans 120 is bent near the heating coil 130 and moves along the heating coil 130. Accordingly, the time for which the external air and the heating coil 130 stay in contact with each other is increased, and thus the same or a higher heating effect can be achieved using a smaller amount of radiated heat, thereby providing the effect of reducing the amount of power.

FIG. 5 is a view showing a configuration for heating air to be blown by using a heat sink structure according to another embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view of a hair dryer having a segmented air outlet according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a view showing a state in which a segmented air outlet is helically formed according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, a heating coil 230 according to the present embodiment invention is formed in the shape of a planar heating element and provided in a structure in which the planar heating element surrounds an air flow path BR, unlike the heating coil 130 according to the first embodiment. Blower fans 220 having rotating blades 222 may be each provided in a heat sink structure, and may heat introduced external air.

More specifically, the hair dryer 200 according to the present embodiment blows air outside the air flow path BR to a user along with the external air being blown by the blower fans 220 by means of a difference in pressure between the air flow path BR and a region around the air flow path BR, thereby generating a large quantity of blows with lower driving force.

However, the air introduced into the air flow path BR and provided to a user by means of a difference in air pressure is not heated, unlike the external air heated and provided by the blower fans 220. When the fact that a drying effect may be reduced is taken into account, there is a need to further heat and provide the external air that is heated and provided by the blower fans 220.

Accordingly, the heating coil 230 according to the second embodiment of the present invention is provided in a structure in which the planar heating element surrounds the air flow path BR, unlike the heating element provided in the structure in which the heating element is wound around the air flow path BR according to the first embodiment and, thus, can more intensively heat external air blown from the inside of the body 210. In other words, contact time is increased by increasing the area in which the heating coil 230 comes into contact with the external air, thereby achieving an improved heating effect.

Furthermore, the structure of each of the blower fans 220 in which rotating blades 222 are radially provided around a corresponding rotating shaft 221 is viewed as being identical or similar to a heat sink structure, and thus it will be apparent that the above-described effect can be achieved by further heating external air through the heating of the rotating shaft 221 and the radiation of heat via the rotating blades 222.

Meanwhile, referring to FIG. 6, an air outlet is provided in a segmented structure, and thus external air transferred via each air inlet 211 and a corresponding blower fan 220 is enabled to be blown via a single corresponding air outlet segment 212.

Although the embodiment is configured such that the air outlet 112 is provided in an integrated form and external air introduced via the plurality of air inlets 211 and the blower fans 220 is enabled to exit via any portions of the air outlet 212 and does not move against the air flow path, the present embodiment is configured such that each air outlet segment 212 forms a single flow path between a corresponding blower fan 220 and the air outlet segment 212 and thus external air is enabled to be blown along the single flow path.

This can prevent the driving force of the blower fan 220 from being transferred without a loss attributable to the blowing pressure of the air outlet, thereby enabling blowing to be efficiently performed.

Furthermore, referring to FIG. 7, each air outlet segment 212 is formed to be helically bent from a corresponding blower fan 220, and thus enables air blown by the blower fan 220 to be blown in a vortex form.

As described above, external air is made to be blown in a vortex form, i.e., in an eddy current form, and thus external air drawn into the air flow path BR by means of a difference in pressure is allowed to be guided at higher flow speed, thereby enabling a larger amount of external air to be blown to a user.

As described above, according to the present invention, the following advantages are achieved:

First, the present invention is advantageous in that the plurality of small-sized blower fans are formed along the annular body and driven, and thus the same blowing effect can be achieved with lower driving force, thereby solving noise and vibration problems attributable to the blower fans that are rotated at high speed.

Second, the present invention is advantageous in that the consumption of power is considerably reduced by the small-sized blower fans, and thus the power to be consumed can be reduced, thereby enabling a wireless recharge-type hair dryer to be easily constructed.

Third, the present invention is advantageous in that the air inlets are formed along the outer circumference of the annular body, and thus the inflow path of external air is not interfered with, thereby enabling a hair drying function to be easily implemented.

Advantages of the present invention are not limited to the above-described advantages, but other advantages that have not been described above will be clearly understood by those having ordinary knowledge in the art to which the present invention pertains from the foregoing description.

Although the present invention has been specifically described in conjunction with the embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings, the above-described embodiments are intended merely to illustrate examples of the present invention. Accordingly, the present invention should not be construed as being limited only to the embodiments, but the scope of the present invention should be construed as encompassing not only the attached claims but also equivalents to the claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A hair dryer comprising: a body provided in a cylindrical shape having an annular sectional surface in a lengthwise direction thereof, configured to form an air flow path through which air is supplied to a user, and provided with one or more air inlets that are formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof and function to introduce external air and an air outlet that is formed on an inner circumferential surface thereof and functions to discharge internal air along the air flow path in an air blowing direction; a blower fan provided between the air inlets and the air outlet, and configured to be rotated to thus introduce external air into the body via the air inlets and blow the external air via the air outlet; and a heating coil provided between the blower fan and the air outlet, and configured to heat the external air being blown via the air outlet; wherein air outside the air flow path is introduced into the air flow path and blown to the user along with the air being blown via the air outlet by means of a difference in air pressure between an inside region of the air flow path and a region outside the air flow path that is generated by a flow speed of the air being blown via the air outlet.
 2. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein the heating coil is installed to be helically wound around the air flow path along the cylindrical shape.
 3. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein the heating coil is attached to an internal surface of the body in a form of a planar heating element, and radiates heat.
 4. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein the body is provided in a structure which extends along the air flow path and a radius of an end of which decreases gradually, and the air outlet is formed on an inner circumferential surface of the end of the body.
 5. The hair dryer of claim 4, wherein the air outlet is formed in an integrated or segmented structure along the annular sectional surface of the body.
 6. The hair dryer of claim 5, wherein the air outlet is provided in a helical structure along the air flow path when it is formed in the segmented structure on the inner circumferential surface of the body.
 7. The hair dryer of claim 1, wherein the blower fan is driven with a voltage of 12 V, and includes a plurality of blower fans provided in the lengthwise direction of the body.
 8. The hair dryer of claim 1, further comprising a grip configured to contain a rechargeable battery that supplies power to the blower fan and the heating coil, and to be coupled to one side of the body in the lengthwise direction of the body to thus enable the user to hold the body. 